Working from home (1)

Leonie Cooper: Will your London Recovery Board look at the gender inequality impact of working from home, as it has been found in a report from the Institute for Fiscal Studies and the UCL Institute of Education that women are doing the bulk of the childcare and housework whilst working from home?

The Mayor: The London Recovery Board has identified the short and long-term challenge for recovery as:
“to restore confidence in the city, minimise the impact on vulnerable communities of covid-19 and the subsequent economic shock, and to rebuild the city’s economy and society”. The Recovery Board has agreed that Equality, Diversity and Inclusion must be a priority across the whole of the Recovery programme. The Board’s missions-led approach will include a mission on promoting ‘Good Work’, which will look at evidence on how prolonged periods of working from home have affected London’s workforce differently across gender. Analysis (IFS 27 May 2020, ONS July 2020) has shown that shut-down sectors disproportionately employed women. During the period of school closures, mothers were more likely than fathers to pick up additional childcare responsibilities, to be furloughed or made redundant, and to say that working from home negatively affected their wellbeing. In its focus on promoting good practice among London’s employers, the Good Work mission will seek to understand and address unequal experiences by gender of changed working patterns due to the pandemic, and longer-term consequences for the gender pay gap, mental health, and levels of maternal employment.

London Recovery Board (1)

Leonie Cooper: Can you provide the terms of reference of the London Recovery Board?

The Mayor: The terms of reference of the London Recovery Board can be found here.

London Recovery Board (2)

Leonie Cooper: What are the short-term and long-term challenges facing the London Recovery Board?

The Mayor: The London Recovery Board has identified the short and long-term challenge for recovery as:
“to restore confidence in the city, minimise the impact on vulnerable communities of covid-19 and the subsequent economic shock, and to rebuild the city’s economy and society”.